Shade: Fall of the Akatsuki
by GreyShadow65
Summary: Shade: An elite group of ANBU tasked with eliminating Akatsuki from the elemental nations. Follow their journey as they perform difficult missions, without anyone knowing they exist.
1. The First Mission

Shade; an elite ANBU squad that for all intensive purposes, does not exist. Follow their adventures through the Naruto universe.

Note: I tweaked the timeline to my liking. The first flashback happens after the first retrieval mission when the Shippuden portion starts. I also felt it was bullshit how little Naruto learned on his training trip. So in my AU, he knows sage mode from Jiraiya, all the non elemental rasengans, some level of control over Kyubbi, and advanced taijutsu.

*unknown location*

3...2...1... Counted down the fingers on the masked man's hand. As soon as the last finger dropped, the group dispersed in a blur, barely disturbing the surrounding vegetation.

2 men, walking, 12'oclock. 2 men, 2 guard towers, 11 and 2'oclock signaled another masked man by using his hands. Relaying the signal to his other 2 squad members, he made 3 horizontal circles with his hand, signaling the start of the operation. The man high in the trees placed seals on 2 caged squirrels, and sent them towards the patrolling guards.

"What was that?"

"You are way to jumpy for guard duty" said the clearly more experienced guard as the 2 squirrels scampered to the wall of the compound and climbed up it.

"Hey, I'm just a chunin, and with all the activity lately, you can't blame me for being a little on edge." replied the younger guard.

One shadow like figure used this opportunity to sneak to the wall of the compound. Flashing through hand seals, He quickly merged with the wall, moments later sticking his head out to check for hostiles. Dashing to the target building, he quickly used chakra to adhere to the wall, climbing to the target window. He peaked his head to the edge of the window, and checked for any people inside.

"No hostiles. Spectre, cover me" whispered the infiltrator into his radio.

"Roger"

He silently pulled out a kunai and channeled wind chakra into it, cutting off as much of the window as possible while simultaneously placing his other hand on the glass, channeling chakra through it to prevent it from falling. Once he completed it, the masked man quickly sealed the missing glass, and then ran through more seals, casting a genjutsu over the removed window. The masked intruder than proceeded to enter through the window, and quickly examined the room before using the radio.

"Objective bravo completed, requesting exit."

"You are clear, proceed with mission" crackled the voice over the radio.

The apparition like man disappeared out of the compound quickly silently, with no one the wiser about his activities.

*Konoha*

A young woman walked to work, going through the paces of a typical week. She would smile and greet her friends, but anyone who knew the pink haired woman could see the dull look in her eyes. Could sense that some of the fire that once coursed through her, was now extinguished. The green eyed woman had developed nicely from the large fore headed, 12 year old genin of old. She looked much more mature and shapely, and had an aura of power an authority around her. That's what happens when you are the apprentice to the Godaime Hokage, Tsuanade.

The sadness that permeated the near perfect facade of cheerfulness was evident to few. The reasons for this were known to many though.

Flashback

Sakura and Naruto were not on speaking terms. She was furious at him. How could her loyal blonde friend turn around and betray her so suddenly? He had promised to bring Sasuke back and protect him, and now the Uchila avenger was going to be executed! By none other than Naruto himself! When she had yelled and screamed at him for it, he had just looked at her and said "Sasuke will be killed regardless if I do it or not. I volunteered for it. No one should kill him but me." the coldness is his normally bright blue eyes had shut her up at the time. They hadn't talked since, and now here in the chunin exam stadium, Sasuke was tied to a platform in the center, with Naruto standing nearby. Tsuanade quieted the crowd and her booming voice echoed throughout the stadium.

"For defecting Konoha and assisting one of the greatest traitors known to Konoha, you are sentenced to death. The Sharingan is apparently a cursed bloodline where the users cannot stay loyal to anyone but themselves. And such, it ends here."

The solemn blonde shinobi then turned towards his former best friend.

"Any last words?"

"You claim to be my best friend, and yet you stop me from achieving my dreams!" spat the last Uchila. "You are no friend of mine."

"You are right, we aren't friends." deadpanned Naruto as he whipped through hand signs as his eyes met the platform. While lightning appeared on his right hand and his left hand grabbed his wrist, Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise before they were replaced by anger. "I considered you my brother."

"How dare you use my own technique against me? Fuck you Naruto, you are not my brother and my only brother killed everyone I cared about! I will never find happiness until I kill him!" screamed the raven-haired avenger. "I hope you burn in the fiery... pits..." trailed his voice as Naruto looked up at his best friend. The tears streaming down Naruto's face shocked Sasuke more than the chidori rammed through his chest did.

Too quiet for the crowd to hear, the crying shinobi whispered to his dieing friend "May you find the peace and happiness in the afterlife that you could not find here. I will miss you."

As the light left his eyes, Sasuke's last words were "Thank you, brother".

These last words put Naruto over the edge. He couldn't handle the pain of losing his friend and the tears came in earnest. He turned around to leave the stadium before a physical pain tore at his chest. Looking through his tear streaked eyes, Naruto saw a blood covered sword return through the hole in his chest that the sword originally caused, before he slumped to the ground and blackness overtook him. The crowd stood in stunned silence before the ANBU announced to the crowd "By order of the council, the demon child was executed for his crimes against the village and for causing the insanity and death of the last Sharingan user." The ANBU shunshined away before anyone had time to react.

Sakura was the first to act. Despite the shock of watching one of her teammates killed, and the second one dieing in front of her, she charged to the center of the stadium as the stadium exploded in noise. Screams, shouts and general mayhem erupted as the civilians and ninjas alike scrambled in all directions. ANBU quickly grabbed the Hokage and tried to take her to the Hokage tower, as Tsuanade seemed to be in shock. Meanwhile, Shikaku quickly ordered any remaining ANBU to quickly search for the rouge one that had stabbed the blonde haired savior. Kakashi meanwhile had advanced to the center of the stadium; his Sharingan uncovered and stood guard over the pink-haired medic frantically trying to heal her friend.

_'Shit, it missed his heart, but it punctured his left lung and there appears to be a poison within his body from the wound. It is shutting down his organs and I can't remove them fast enough.'_

Pulling herself out of her spiraling thoughts, Sakura quickly snapped an order to Kakashi "I need Shizune down here ASAP, as well as Tsuanade as soon as she is able. Naruto will die without their help." With an urgency never seen from the copy ninja before, two shadow clones popped into existence and shot off towards their respective targets. Shizune was quick to join Sakura and immediately tried to stop the spread of the poison while the younger medic started extracting it in a similar manner to how she removed the poison from Kankuro.

Over near Tsuanade, Kakashi's clone had arrived but was quickly stopped by the guarding ANBU. "Stay back, our protocol clearly states no one is allowed near the Hokage during crisis situations".

"As former ANBU captain and ranking Jounin, I order you to move out of my way." The ANBU, realizing Kakashi was one of the most senior Shinobi in Konoha, quickly stepped aside and were shocked when Kakashi slapped the leader of the Village. "Get your shit together now Tsuanade. Your adopted son is dieing while you go into shock. Help him! Save him! Don't let him die like so many of my comrades before him. Like so many of your comrades before him. Don't let all I consider family forever disappear" the grey-haired man all but pleaded. And it worked, as his words reached Tsuanade. With a roar, Tsuanade moved past speeds rivaling Gai with his gates opened and immediately reached Naruto's side. Sakura snapped a status report and explained that her original apprentice had only managed to slow the spread of the toxins into Naruto's organs, and Sakura was struggling to extract the poison. Tsuanade immediately ran her own diagnostic and as quickly as possible, healed Naruto's lung before moving to assist Shizune in controlling the poison. Sakura had already passed her in terms of removing poisons and forming antidotes. With the legendary medics help, the youngest medic of the three removed the last dredges of poison with a sign of relief. Suddenly, their patient started to convulse. "Naruto!" yelled the three medics together before their training kicked in. Sakura and Shizune held down the flailing blonde while Tsuanade once again ran a diagnostic Jutsu.

"Shit, the first poison was also an inhibitor for a second poison, and this one is a powerful neurotoxin. It is already destroying all the nerve connections to his organs! Kakashi, hold down Naruto, now!" The cyclopean ninja jumped into action and held the genin down while the 3 medics tried to control and remove the poison. "His heart is failing! 3, 2, 1, Stat!" shouted the lead medic as she forced a blast of chakra towards her adopted son's failing heart. This was repeated several times, to no avail. By now, several of their friends had arrived and stood in a worried circle.

"Time of death, 12:37 p.m. Cause: Stab wound and poison leading to heart failure." came the dead sounding voice of their once bright leader. She slowly rose to her feet and walked away, not once looking back at any of the loyal shinobi behind her. Her first apprentice summoned a body bag, and with tears in her eyes, helped place the body onto a stretcher when the hospital medics arrived. Kakashi and his only remaining student both stared at their hands in horror. Once again, the lone loyal Sharingan user had failed to protect his friends. With a cry of rage and a burst of lightning, the formed ANBU captain disappeared to an unknown location. Hinata approached the pink haired medic and started to wipe the blood of her hands and clothes.

"Sakura, it is not your fault. You did everything you could to save him" came the compassionate and surprisingly strong voice of the Hyuga Heiress. While she had overcome many of her insecurities, the feelings she had for the now dead blonde were commonly known. No one expected her calm reaction.

"I watched him die Hinata. He died in my hands. I wasn't good enough. I wasn't good enough to stop my first teammate from leaving. I wasn't good enough to save my second teammate when he needed me. I am never good enough to help the people around me. I'm useless" whispered the distraught girl before the floodgates opened and she cried into Hinata's open arms. "Shhh, shhh, it will all be okay Sakura. Let it all out."

*Fast forward several days*

The memorial for Naruto was a solemn affair. Most of the ninja population came to his grave. Aside from the few who hated him, Kakashi was the only notable missing person. The cliché rain poured down on the village, crying for the loss of such a pure soul.

Kakashi ran his hand over the latest name to be added to the memorial stone. Namikaze Naruto. 'I am so sorry sensei. I failed your legacy and I failed to protect someone who had become a younger brother to me. You all would be ashamed of me. I slacked and the people around me died. It is time that I change my life around, so the few people left, I truly can protect. Instead of moping, I will truly not fail this time. I only hope you can all forgive me for my past failings."

*Flashback end*

Thus was the cause of the sadness permeating though the pink-haired beauty, and the village itself.

*back with the masked group*

"Alright team, we have 4 hours until the enemy arrives. Our intel suggests it is a powerful escort, anywhere between 10-15 Jounin level Ninja. On top of Kakuzu potentially being here personally" came the instructions of the apparent leader of the group. He wore a dark grey mask with a small brown deer where his forehead would be. Traditional ANBU armor adorned him, including the standard issue tanto strapped to his back. He, along with the rest of his squad, wore a balaclava to hide his hair. "Our main target is the man being escorted. If our intel is correct, he will not be bringing the money he is supposed to exchange with Akatsuki, so killing him during this meeting will stop Akatsuki from obtaining more funding."

"Why can't we just go in and kill them all?" came the enthusiastic outburst of the ANBU wearing a black mask with a light blue wolf between the eye holes of the mask. He was dressed in all black ANBU armor and had one tanto strapped horizontally to his belt above his lower back, as well as two shortened Katanas strapped in an X across his back.

"Shut up Ghost. The goal is to take out Akatsuki, not get ourselves killed." snapped back the black and red mask of another member. His symbol was a red circle in the same location as his peers and he wore similar black armor as ghost. The ANBU member had a single katana strapped to his hip as his only distinguishing weapon.

"Watch the attitude Wraith, we are a team, remember?" stated the feminine voice of the 4th member of the team. She also wore an all black ANBU uniform, and a black mask. Her symbol was 2 blue Kunais in an X pattern. A katana was strapped to her hip. Across her back, an unusual metal apparatus was present.

"Enough!" came the stern, but quiet voice of their leader, Phantom. "Our mission is set, we follow orders. We do not fail and we do not get caught. The plan is simple, and Ghost accomplished all the pre-work needed yesterday. Wraith and Spectre, go to the location you scouted earlier. Ghost, on me, we are scouting the entrance. Move out."

A chorus of "Hai!" rang out before everyone moved to their positions in a blur.

On the hill overlooking the small fort, Spectre removed the equipment from her back and started assembling it. A long barrel, barely separated into two halves was screwed into the metal base, where an apparent trigger and stock were also attached. Attaching a small scope to the top of the device, it quickly became apparent it was some type of projectile device (think a sniper rifle, M82 style for those who know much about rifles). She then proceeded to attack two wires, one to each portion of the barrel, and handed them to Wraith, who proceeded to release lightning chakra for a short time. After he completed charging the weapon, he disconnected the wires and handed them back to Spectre, who quickly sealed them away. Spectre then proceeded to load a strange looking kunai into the weapon. It was essentially a cylindrical version of one but was clearly made of 2 different materials and split down the middle. After preparations were made and several hours went by, the only female member of the squad noticed a group of people entering the building. Peering through the scope, her keen eyes scanned through the windows for her target, and any other identifiable enemy.

"Phantom, this is Spectre."

"I copy."

"Kakuzu is indeed here. He is the only enemy I can identify outside of our target. They have sat down and appear to be starting negotiations."

"Roger that, proceed with mission."

The holder of the unusual weapon quickly took aim through the scope, and when the cross hairs lined up, she pulled the trigger. With a quick discharge of electricity, the projectile flew through the air at supersonic speeds and through the missing window that Ghost had removed the night before. The speed of the projectile completely tore off the head of the representative, sending the room into a state of panic. The keen eyes of several of the more experienced Ninja quickly scanned for where the attack came from, but could figure out nothing but a possible direction.

"Target down."

"Retreat to the rendezvous point. Mission accomplished."


	2. First Strike

**A/N: Just for clarification on some of the timing of this story. The formation of team Shade has not been specified or explained yet. It will all come in due time. But the mission Shade was on in the first chapter was occurring immediately after Naruto's funeral, so Sakura's flashback wasn't really much of a flashback time-wise, as the flashbacks events were only a week prior to the present. Slightly confusing but hopefully that helps clear up any potential confusion. I'm also going to try to update this story once every 2 or 3 weeks, but I won't guarantee anything. I also tend to write when I have free time at work, and thus can't check most of the spellings and such online. So feel free to correct any glaring errors you see.**

"That was a lot easier than I expected it to be" came the feminine voice of one of the ANBU squad members.

"Agreed. Had they brought the money to the meeting point, extracting it would have been much more difficult" responded Wraith.

"Your weapon is so cool Spectre! I had never seen it actually used on anyone and it worked! Can't believe how we actually designed that weapon. Lucky you two were being mischievous" said Ghost, whose glance towards the only female member and the black and red masked man just implied a smirk was adorning his face.

"Fuck off Ghost" growled the irritated pair.

"Even talking in unison now? How cute! Who would have thought the phrase 'electricity was in the air' could have such a literal interpretation when you two were making out on Spectre's work bench!"

As the killing intent directed towards the teasing member of the team, Phantom decided intervention was in order before their team dropped to 3 people. "Ghost, enough. Their time together allowed us to discover an electric projectile weapon that can even shoot through stone. Wraith subconsciously channeling lightning chakra during their alone time caused that stray kunai to be launched down the two different swords at ridiculous speeds. I won't bother explaining the mechanics behind how lightning works, but it created a powerful propulsion field, and I have named her new weapon a 'Rail Gun'"

**(A/N. Yea, when you think about the modern day premise for a rail gun, and all the beauties of chakra conducting metals and the ridiculous pounding some of them take, a rail gun isn't that far fetched of an idea.)**

"Why didn't I get to name my own weapon?" came the irritated voice of said weapon owner.

"I designed it. Sure you created it, but without me, would you have been able to replicate the results? I think not. Not to mention I have let your extra-curricular activities with one of our team members slide. So be thankful Spectre that the naming is the only thing taken from you" came the slightly angered voice of their leader. "Besides, you would have come up with a stupid name anyway."

"I should smack you into next week…"

"But you won't strike your commanding officer."

The resulting silence effectively ended the banter.

"Now, it is time for our next mission. Ghost, you are going to like this one…"

*Konoha*

Tsuanade rubbed her temples in irritation. First her surrogate son had been killed by order of the council, and the only thing that stopped her from killing every single one of them Shikamaru calming her down. The young Nara had told her that it would accomplish nothing but allowing her to be executed for being a tyrant, which was exactly what the council wanted. She couldn't play into their hands, Naruto would never want that. Now, she was dealing with the backlash of announcing Naruto's heritage after the funeral. The news of Naruto Uzumaki actually being Naruto Namikaze, the son of the 4th Hokage Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki had caused an uproar in the village. While many still hated the deceased blonde and rejoiced in his death, many more were upset about his death and their treatment of the village hero's legacy. At least it had the desired effect. Shikamaru sure knew how to salvage a situation. First, he had explained that the civilian council had majority voted to execute Naruto. According to Konoha's laws, they do have this power. However, the lazy genius had discovered a little known fact that execution orders from the civilian side of the council had to first be run by the Hokage for a potential Veto. This had allowed Tsuanade to seize a substantial amount of power from the civilian council, to the delight of the ninja council's side.

Next, on the young Chunin's suggestion, Naruto's heritage was to be revealed to the village, to the shock of the Hokage. Shikamaru had proceeded to explain that his heritage is pretty obvious, with his similar appearance to the Yondaime and him containing the Kyubi. His heritage being revealed would not bring the wrath of Iwa, as he was dead, and would further take power away from the civilian council, as much of the populace would lose faith in them. It all worked as planned, and now, she almost had the ability to disband the civilian portion of the council. Danzo though, had other plans. As the more irritating portion of the council tended to back him, the old war-hawk did as much as he could to keep them in power. Tsuanade had many suspicions about Danzo, such as ROOT still being active and some nefarious dealings, but could do nothing to prove them yet. Hence, the source of her irritation. She had almost hoped Shikamaru would come to help guide her with what to do next involving the council, but at the same time, didn't want to see the smug face of the bastard knowing he had been right. A knock on the door brought her out of her musings.

"Enter!"

The owner of grey, gravity-defying hair stepped into the room. "Hokage-sama" greeted the respected Jounin as he gave a slight bow.

"What do you need Kakashi?"

"I would like to be part of the group tasked with destroying Akatsuki in addition to my normal missions." Came the dead-sounding reply of the lazy Jounin.

"And why should I allow this request?"

"Despite sounding conceded, I am one of the most powerful ninja at your disposal next to Jiraiya-sama. Fighting S-class ninja is something that requires the very best we can offer."

"That may be true, but that isn't your only reason. Spill."

Kakashi's fists clenched in response. "Everything I have sworn to protect, I have failed with. My sensei, my teammates, all dead. Now all that is left of my squad is Sakura. I will not lose her or the remaining friends I have in Konoha. I want to destroy the threat Akatsuki posses to the Shinobi world. I want to destroy those who wanted to harm the people I should have protected." Came the rage filled response. Whether the anger was at himself, his enemies, or both, not even Kakashi knew.

"Very well. We actually just sent out squads to locate a pair of Akatsuki that attacked the fire monks temple. Asuma's squad could use the reinforcements. This is where they were heading, and the search pattern each squad would take." Responded Tsuanade as she handed the grief-filled Jounin a map.

"Thank you Hokage-sama" muttered Kakashi before he shunshined out of the room.

_Be careful Kakashi. We can't afford to lose anyone else, _Thought the blonde Hokage before returning to her paperwork and pulling out a container of sake.

'_Damnit, I thought I was supposed to like this mission. So far all I've been doing is running around admiring the trees'_ mused Ghost, before he picked up spiking chakra signatures in the distance. Dashing to the area, Ghost was surprised to find Asuma, Shikamaru, Kotesu and Izumo fighting a silver haired man in an Akatsuki cloak. His eyes drifted to where his target, Kakuzu stood, watching the fight.

'_The other one must be Hidan the Immortal then. He has a lot of blood staining his cloak so that means they have picked up he is difficult to kill. I wonder why Kakuzu is just watching though. Oh well, might as well take advantage of the situation.' _thought the masked ninja as he shunshinned behind Hidan. Before any of the ninja present were aware of what happened, the mysterious masked man had thrown one of the blood soaked katanas formerly on his back while he dashed towards the waiting Kakuzu. Hidan tried to turn, but couldn't as his head rolled off his body and his body proceeded to split in half along his waist. "Fuck you, you heathen bastard! It is only a flesh wound, I'll bite your legs off as I sacrifice you to Jashin-sama!" screamed the head now rolling on the ground. Shikamaru was the first to come out of his shock and quickly grabbed the head and sealed it into a scroll before shouting to his teammates "Kakashi and Asuma, use your most powerful fire Jutsu's and burn Hidan's body to nothing, then join us against Kakuzu. Kotesu, Izumo, on me. Any enemy of Akatsuki is a friend of ours, and that ANBU has a left insignia on his shoulder!" Shikamaru and the two Chunin quickly dashed towards the new fight just breaking out. Asuma did not have time to be offended by his student ordering him what to do, as he quickly complied with the demand.

The masked Taki-nin quickly reacted to the flying sword and grabbed it by the handle as it approached him. Using the momentum of the throw, he spun in a circle and released it back at the charging ANBU at an even greater velocity. Kakuzu was surprised when the newly arrived ninja blocked the katana with his other one and quickly snatched it out of the air. Meanwhile, he brought one in a diagonal guard across his chest while the other katana was held in a back-handed grip behind his lower back. _'Interesting, very fast, very strong to be able to deflect that throw without slowing down. Seems to also be skilled in Kenjutsu as his stance is suitable for swift attacks and a balanced defense. I'll have to be careful with him until I know his abilities. And I also have to worry about the Konoha-nin as well.' _Considered Kakuzu in the brief time he had before the charging ninja met him head on. Kakuzu used his hardening Jutsu to make his skin as hard as steel, and immediately had to parry a jab from the Katana that he thought would primarily be used as defense. _'A very reckless ninja' _thought the ancient shinobi as he used his other hand to aim a strong punch at the chest of his enemy, but was surprised when the ANBU used the momentum of his parry to bring a back handed slash to parry Kakuzu's punch, while bringing the other katana in a spinning slash that caught the Taki-nin in the neck and sent him flying into a nearby tree. _'I would be dead if it wasn't for my steel skin. He clearly uses a style that is based off counters, but I can use that to my advantage." _The experienced ninja quickly dashed forward to meet the charging ninja and started raining blows that were blocked, and his counters blocked in return. One vicious parry to the outside appeared to leave the swordsman open to attack, but he used the momentum to spin and bring both swords in a horizontal slash that hit nothing but air. Kakuzu had stepped into the direction of his parry and leveled a strong double palm thrust into the back of the masked Ninja and dashed towards his tumbling form.

However, reinforcements arrived and the remaining Akatsuki agent had to dodge the approaching shadow of the genius Nara. _'Hidan is incapacitated right now, and even though I may struggle against both the copy-nin, Asuma, these 3 chunin and that mysterious ninja, I don't have time to fight them as leader-sama is calling' _considered Kakuzu before he used a combination wind-earth jutsu to put up a dust storm and quickly retreated. As the Konoha nin felt his chakra single fade in the distance, they approached the now recovered ANBU.

Kakashi was the first to speak. "Who are you? I don't recognize you from my days in ANBU."

"I am your ally. And that is all you need to know" was the curt reply of the mysterious ANBU before he shunshined away.

"Well at least we got one of the bastards. I count that as a success. Lets return to Konoha and report to the Hokage."

"Hai"

**A/N. Pretty short chapter, I know. Just seemed like a good stopping point for now, and the chapters will get longer as the story moves along. I also know I haven't really used any Jutsu names in either chapter. Haven't really used many for one, and the ones I have are easily recognizable or don't need to be said. Jutsu names will start flying once serious battles occur.**


	3. Even the Best Laid Plans

**A/N: An update already! Boring day or two at work led to the early update. Thank you to everyone who already has set up alerts for this story! Now how about some reviews too, feedback on what is good and what needs to be fixed is always appreciated****. Anyway, I'm sure some of you are already figuring out at least Ghost's identity. The other 3 are not quite as simple, but will all be revealed in good time. I assure you that all 4 Shade members are actual Naruto characters and not OCs, even if some of their behavior might be tailored to my liking. Also, I'm going to use English names for Jutsu. Simply because it always annoys me to have to look up what a Jutsu does. Sure, it isn't as cool sounding. But it's a small sacrifice to pay.**

"What took you so long, Phantom?" hissed Ghost. He was tired of waiting for their leader, as he was late.

"I had to get our next orders and updates on the current situation, so shut your mouth. Good job though, Ghost. Your efforts greatly assisted one of the teams tasked with killing Akatsuki and allowed them to capture Hidan. That immortal bastard is currently being interrogated. I doubt Ibiki can do much with one who likes pain so much, but I bet Inochi can get some information from that weak minded fool."

Ghost laughed as he thought about Hidan spewing nonsense about his god smiting them.

"Anyway, we have no been given a general directive as well as several missions to do in sequence. Ghost, you once again will be happy about both. The general directive is to kill all Akatsuki agents we come across." Phantom snickered as Wraith smacked Ghost upside the head before he could say anything. "Our first mission is simple. Spectre, your skills will be most useful for this one. Short, simple and to the point." Chuckled Phantom at his small pun. "We will assassinate the leader of a small industrial village in the Land of Rain. It is unfortunate, as he is well liked by his village and frequently interacts with its citizens. But the weapons and money he provides to Ame, where we believe Akatsuki to be headquartered, must be stopped."

"So what is the plan for this one?" asked Spectre.

"You will enjoy this one. It is your specialty after all."

Spectre walked through the crowd of people towards her target. She felt naked without her mask and uniform, but it was all part of the plan. An ANBU walking through the streets of a non-shinobi village would draw far too much attention. At least on top of normal civilian attire, she wore a long grey cloak with a hood that obscured her features in shadow. Not enough to be suspicious but enough to conceal her identity from anyone who looked at her. Phantom's plan was simple and took advantage of Spectre's skill set and of the village leader's kind nature to his people. She watched her target gradually make his way through the crowd to her location. It pained Spectre to have to murder such a man, but in order to protect all the elemental nations, tasks like this had to be done. Her chakra had been sealed off thanks to a removable tag that Ghost drafted up. In the event any ninja were present as body guards, it made her undetectable, but could be removed quickly to allow access to her chakra again. For this assassination, she didn't need her chakra anyway. As Phantom said, it would be short, simple, and to the point. As her target neared her location, Spectre tried to control her breathing and heart rate. This was like any other assassination she performed, except this man was innocent in everything except supporting the wrong cause. Steeling her feelings, the female assassin quickly deployed the hidden blade in her gauntlet as the man approached her, and stabbed it directly into the heart before retracting her blade and calmly advancing through the crowd. Her target fell down among the pedestrians, dead, before panic insured and the streets became a madhouse with people scrambling away from the body, as well as towards him to see what happened. Spectre glanced back once, before disappearing into an alley and journeying to her team.

Spectre walked into the camp that her squad had set up for the night.

"How did it go?" came the gentle question from her squad leader.

"Mission accomplished" was the dead reply of the assassin as she entered the small tent she slept in. Phantom and Wraith exchanged a look before the squad member followed the seemingly upset woman into her tent, while Phantom resumed tending the fire.

With uncharacteristic gentleness, the normally cold man asked "What has you so bothered? You have done plenty of assassinations and none have made you this upset."

"It's nothing" whispered Spectre.

"Bullshit. I know you better than that, and something about this kill is bothering you."

"I killed an innocent man!" screamed the agitated girl. "All he ever did wrong was support the other side. He cared for his people, he treated them well. They loved him, and I took away their beloved leader. I may have destroyed their hope and faith that this war coming war will turn out alright. All because he is sending fucking industrial supplies and weapons to Akatsuki! That is the village's life blood! Why didn't we try to negotiate, or do something else! Why… why did we have to kill him? When will all this stop?" Spectre's voice gradually lowered in volume through her rant, before quiet sobs shook her body at the end. Wraith simply stood there and listened, before removing his mask and lieing down next to the sobbing girl. Enveloping her in a hug, he offered her comforting words, "We do this so no one has to live in fear. So that the next generation can maybe live in peace. So maybe, just maybe, if it happens for us, our future children don't have see war." With a slight blush, he continued, "It is a price we must pay. The blood on our hands is to prevent even more bloodshed. Believe in that, and believe we will succeed."

"When did you become such an idealist?" giggled the teary eyed girl in his arms.

"When I met someone who opened my eyes to the joy that is in the world, despite all the pain" smiled the secret ANBU.

Bringing her lips to meet his, the two squad members tenderly kissed before Spectre laid her head on Wraith's chest. With a whispered "Thank you", she quickly fell asleep, while the tender side of a ruthless killer stroked her hair and slowly dozed off himself.

"This is an outrage! Akatsuki must be completely destroyed in order for Konoha to be safe. If earth country is using them as mercenaries, then they are actively fighting us and we must destroy them!"

"Enough Danzo!" came the stern reply of the Hokage. "You and the council's foolish and rash decisions have already created enough damage in Konoha. The civilians are already leery of the council, and plunging us into war will not help their faith in your decision making ability."

Protests erupted from the civilian portion of the council. The council was arranged in two parts. A civilian counterpart was present for each of the ninja clan heads that sat on the council, as well as the Hokage's advisors and Danzo. Homura and Koharu typically sided with Danzo, and as Danzo had the backing of the civilian council, many of his decisions were often passed. Ultimately, the only thing that kept Danzo in check was the power the Hokage had over all ninja-related decisions and could such, veto the council. The shinobi half the council usually sided with the Hokage, and as such, very little was ever accomplished in the stalemate council meetings. With Shikamaru's help, Tsuanade had developed a case file with enough evidence to disband the entire civilian council, along with bring down her two advisors. The only thing stopping her from doing so was Shikamaru's urging that they needed enough to take Danzo down before they disbanded the council. Keeping Danzo feeling secure was essential to the plan, and the lazy Nara insisted that he and Jiraiya were working on obtaining the necessary evidence. This was the only thing preventing her from arresting every one of them and disbanding the council right then and there. Instead, with a roar of "SILENCE!" and a fist slammed into the table, Tsuanade immediately regained order of the room. "After being in this position for several years now, I grow tired of your incessant bickering. You are all adults, are you not?" Tsuande calmly said, before once again raising her voice. "Then start acting like it! Otherwise I will really start treating you like children. ANBU will take you to timeout, you will raise your hand to speak, little things like that. So if you understand, lets try talking one at a time and actually be productive."

A shaky voice of one of the merchants was the first to break the resulting silence. "Hokage-sama."

"Yes, Akido, what is it?"

"I know many feel we should go to war, but in reality, what good would it do? Fighting Iwa would plunge us into a war that could potentially expand, and leave us weakened against this Akatsuki you speak of. Not to mention the economic damages that would occur both to the civilian sector and the village as a whole. If the Akatsuki are mercenaries, albeit dangerous ones, then it is not within our right to fight them in foreign territory. However, leaving them be also leaves Konoha in danger, and this is not to be tolerated."

"Valid points, Akido. So what do you propose then?" replied the amused Hokage. '_Maybe there is some hope for some of the civilians after all. The evidence against Akido is circumstantial, and he has never voiced as many complaints as his civilian counterparts.'_

"What measures are we already taking to fight Akatsuki?"

"We have assembled a quick response team of some of our most gifted ninja, organized into squads. In the event Akatsuki is located in any area that we can target them, these teams are dispatched to try to eliminate them. Jiraiya is also using his spy network to keep tabs on them as much as he can."

"Then I propose we keep going with those actions, as well as said out a message to the other villages warning them of Akatsuki and expressing permission to enter their territories to fight and kill this organization. I doubt most villages will agree with it, but it is worth a try to broaden the area we can fight Akatsuki in without potential conflict erupting. Perhaps trading some intelligence on Akatsuki will warm up your fellow kages to accepting that offer?"

"A very interesting proposition and it definitely has some merit. I would like to vote on it to at least be a starting point for our response to Akatsuki before we take further action" Proposed the Hokage.

"I object" Danzo curtly replied. "This is not even close to being a strong enough message. It makes us look weak and like we need help, when we should just crush Akatsuki as soon as possible."

"Overruled, we will vote upon this issue and we can bring up further plans at a later date. All in favor?" The hands of all of the ninja council were raised in the air, as well as a small portion of the civilian council. Danzo scowled while Tsuanade just smirked at him. _'Don't worry you old bastard, we will get rid of you soon enough. Then we will be able to take proper action against Akatsuki without worrying about you undermining all our work.'_

"The second mission on the list I received will be very destructive. An Akatsuki base in being set up just inside Earth Country. Not only do we have to worry about Akatsuki, but we have a very hostile Iwa to worry about. If intel is correct, Iwa is currently aligned with Akatsuki, so this base will be manned by both Akatsuki agents and Iwa shinobi. We are supposed to completely annihilate the base, and everyone in it."

"Method of destruction?" came the blunt question from the more stoic member of the group.

"Heat activated explosive tags combined with a combination wind and fire release ninjutsu. Then a mop-up of any survivors" responded the authoritative voice of Phantom.

"I'll get the explosive tags ready then" said Spectre as she began to open up scrolls to remove some from storage.

"No. As good as you are at this type of thing, Ghost is by far the best at sneaking around enemy ninja. We first need a layout of the base so I can determine the best location to place explosive tags and bring down the entire building. When we get to Earth territory, I need Spectre and a Shadow clone of Wraith to overlook the fortress. You and the clone will be responsible for scouting out as much of the fort as possible from outside, as well as directing Ghost when he is infiltrating the fortress. Once the tags are placed, Wraith and Ghost will release their jutsus, and you will direct the 3 of us to any pockets of resistance while picking off stragglers with your weapon. Any questions?" Getting no response, Phantom started packing up his portion of the camp. "Then in 5 minutes, we move out."

"Hai."

*Several days later*

Spectre had set up well over a mile away from the rest of her team. It was on a cliff face overlooking the valley that the enemy fortress stood in. The fortress was incomplete, and she already had the Wraith clone near her map out some the targets Ghost would be placing tags on once he got into position.

"Spectre, this is Ghost."

"Copy that."

"I'm in position."

"I have the majority of the fortress section mapped out and can direct you to the target locations. I cannot see inside the barracks so you will have to handle that area on your own. We will start with the fortress first to blow up as much of the fort as possible in case the mission goes south. Once you enter the base, remember to maintain radio silence. Radio clicks will be use for communication. 1 click is north, 2 east, 3 south, and 4 west. 2 quick clicks is watch your back, and 3 quick clicks is target acquired. Good luck Ghost."

"Thanks, moving in."

Ghost truly was a master of stealth. It was the main reason he received the call sign that he did. Like an apparition, Ghost advanced to the still under-construction fort, and ran through hand signs before muttering "**Earth Release: Earth Meld**". Becoming one with the wall, he responded to the 3 clicks in his head piece and headed to the south end of the fort. Peaking out, he could clearly see a support column for the mostly complete wall. He promptly placed the tag, and proceeded to draw a simple seal design around the tag. With the final brush stroke and a small influx of chakra, the tag faded into the stone, appearing to not even be there. Ghost advanced through the fort in a similar fashion, placing and concealing tags in all the key structural areas of the fortress before reaching the barracks. Taking a deep breath, he once again ran through the hand signs for his Earth Meld and entered the barracks, coming into a small supply closet. Sitting in a meditative stance, he concentrated for a moment before focusing on the chakra signals within the barracks. _'At least 200 chakra signals in this barracks, but most are concentrated in what may be the mess hall. Probably lounging around for the evening.' _Exiting the small closet and avoiding the large chakra signal, Ghost explored the barracks, keeping a mental map in his head and placing tags in what appeared to be key locations. Nearing the concentration of chakra signals, he looked in and saw that some of the main supports for the building were in the center of the mess hall. _'Of course, shit like this can never just be easy.'_ Running through a different set of hand seals and whispering "**Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique**", the stealthy ninja entered the floor of the room and made his way to the pillars supporting the building. Thankfully, each pillar was entrenched several feet into the ground, so Ghost could place the tags just beneath the surface on each pillar. Not bothering to disguise the under ground tags, Ghost left the barracks and fort using the same jutsu, and made his way to where Wraith was waiting.

"How did it go?"

"Piece of cake" responded Ghost before he got on the radio. "Shade, this is Ghost. Tags are placed, everyone in position?"

A chorus of "Hai" over the radio was the response. Ghost and Wraith looked at each other, before each made a single hand sign and called out "**Shadow Clone no Jutsu"**. One Wraith clone and two Ghost clones poofed into existence. Arranging themselves in alternating sequence with the real Ghost in the center, the two Wraiths gathered chakra and called out "**Fire Release: Dragon Fire no Jutsu"** while his ANBU partner called out **"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough". **Two massive fire dragons raced towards the small fortress, and when the wind jutsus caught up to them, they doubled in size and became white, clearly radiating intense heat. The twin dragons tore through the fort, inflicting heavy damage and killing many of the guards before they even had a chance to react. Then the heat reached the various tags, and a series of huge explosions tore the fort to burning pieces of shrapnel. The jutsu casters quickly advanced to the fort to look for any survivors, while small supersonic booms rang out. Spectre was apparently picking off individual survivors and hadn't seen any groups that needed their attention.

The advancing pair met up with Phantom near the fort.

"Looks like it was a complete success. Great job guys. Let's get out of here before reinforcements show up."

A crackle came over the radio "Get out of there now! A group just appeared out of the surrounding forest, 15-20 contacts. 200 meters and closing fast."

The group turned around and saw 2 faces they didn't want to see in their current situation, before several more ninja joined behind them.

"Well well, looks like your Pocky obsession saved us a fiery death Itachi. Now we get to meet the mysterious group who has been causing our organization problems."

"Shut up Kisame, Pocky was worth taking a bit longer to get here." Came the agitated voice of the last Uchila. Returning to a calm, calculating voice, Itachi addressed the members of Shade standing before him; "I'm sorry to ruin your fun, but we must now eliminate you. You cannot interfere with Leader-sama's ambition."

**A/N: And that is all for the second update today! Hope it was a bit more exciting! Next one will come out whenever I'm bored at work and have enough written to warrant posting a chapter.**


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